Noortje’s POV

We caught up with the shows we had missed and it was now my birthday. Tony, Vic, Mike, and Jaime insisted on throwing a birthday party for me, but I’m pretty sure they just wanted an excuse for a party. Two bands they knew were in town, so they invited them as well. That was the biggest sign that this party was just because they wanted a party. I never liked parties, but that’s pretty obvious. Being the only one sober is really awkward.

I had brought Bailey to Tony’s mom and Isabel. There was no way a dog was going to be useful in a house full of drunk guys. Things would only possibly go wrong. Isabel was really happy to see me, even though she had only met me once before. I guess Tony really meant it when he said his sister really liked me. But that was only a good thing.

The party was going to be at our house, or rather on the beach at our house. It wasn’t really a private beach, but at the same time, only the owners of the houses here used it. We were just going to be on the beach, have a fire, tonnes of alcohol, and probably order pizza. It was only September, so the weather was still nice and warm. Vic also demanded there would be presents for me, even though I said I didn’t want any. I’m pretty sure he’s also going to make me open them in front of everybody.

I quickly ran upstairs to get changed before people started showing up. I might not have liked the idea of a party, but it was my birthday, so I get to look good. Plus, it was always fun to see Tony’s reactions. He always thought I was beautiful, but if I actually made an effort his jaw dropped and he couldn’t keep his hands off of me.

I put on a simple black bikini and put a cropped white tank top and blue ripped shorts over it. The makeup I wore was straightforward, just some eye makeup and lipstick, but it was sure to be enough to make Tony drool. I decided to forget about shoes because we were going to be in the sand anyway and I didn’t feel like having to put them on and off every minute.

I walked back downstairs and saw Tony putting some drinks in the fridge, and others in a cooler box. He didn’t notice I was standing a few feet behind him, so I watched. He was wearing board shorts and a black t-shirt that fully exposed all the tattoo’s on his arms.

“I am all ready to meet these friends of yours,” I said.

“Hmm, really, you’ll probably-” Tony started before he turned around to see me. Just like I expected, his jaw dropped.

“Oh my god, you look amazing,” He walked towards me.

I smirked, “Well, thank you. I tired.”

“I can see.”

He placed his lips against mine. Our mouths molded together and Tony’s hands slowly trailed down to my thighs. He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him before he placed my down of the counter. I put my hands against his chest while his hands roamed around the skin that was showing between my top and shorts. He trailed his tongue on my bottom lip and I granted him access. Just before it got heated I pulled away and wiped away smudged lipstick on my mouth before leaning over to his ear.

“If you like what you see now, you’ll probably like the bikini I’m wearing underneath,” I whispered seductively.

“Oh, really?” Tony teased.

“You might not even like me wearing it around so many other guys.”

I moved away so I was looking at him again. Placing my hands on his cheeks, I wiped away lipstick on his mouth with my thumbs. He grinned as I made sure to get rid of everything.

“I’m going to have to fix my lipstick before people start coming,” I said.

“You’ll probably have to do it very often today,” Tony winked before turning around back to the fridge.

I jumped off the counter and went back to the ensuite bathroom upstairs. I opened my lipstick and thought about the comment Tony had made. It might be a good idea to bring it downstairs with me. As I was reapplying it I heard the doorbell ring. Tony probably opened it, because I heard him saying hello to the people that had arrived.

I slowly walked downstairs and heard people talking.

“So where do we put the presents?” A male voice asked.

“Just put them on the table over there, she’ll be down in a second,” Tony answered.

I took that as my cue to walk out. But of course I didn’t just casually come out and say hi. I quickly ran up behind Tony, kissed his cheek so I would leave a lipstick mark, and quickly ran out the back door, over the grass, and down the stairs to the beach.

“You just did not!” I exclaimed and ran out after me.

I managed to outrun him for a while, but he soon caught up and grabbed me, swinging me around before throwing me over his shoulder. I tried to get out of his grip, but he just held on tighter and started walking back to the house.

“Come on, you need to say hi to your guests,” Tony said.

He entered the house and I was still hanging upside down.

“So, guys, this is Noortje,” Tony introduced. He turned around so I could see them.

“Hi,” I waved, “I can barely breathe, because all the blood is rushing to my head.”

The four guys chuckled and said hi back.

“Tony, put me down,” I whined.

Instead of actually putting me down, he let go of me, making me slip down his back. He caught my feet and ankles just before I hit the floor. I was able to reach out my arms to my hands were flat against the floor.

“Just let go of my feet!” I tried untangling my feet from his hold.

Tony did just that and I stayed up in a handstand before going into a bridge and standing up. I waited a second for the vertigo to pass and turned around.

“Ok, I did not know I could do that.” I said.

“It was pretty awesome though,” One of the guys said.

“Well, I’ll start the introductions, then. I’m Alex,” A guy with faded hair started.

“I’m Rian,” The guy, who called my move awesome, said.

“Zack,” A buff guy introduced.

“And I’m Jack.” Another tall guy said.

I looked at the last guy. He seemed familiar: Black hair with a white stripe, bushy eyebrows, and a large-ish nose. Suddenly I remembered.

“Aren’t you the guy from the after party in the UK?” I blurted out.

He squinted his eyes at me, but then realisation washed over him, “Oh yeah! That was very awkward…”

“I’m sorry about that… Let’s just say I was in a weird place at that time.”

“You definitely were,” Tony added with a smirk.

“Oh, shut up.”

Tony pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me, placing a kiss on the side of my head. I leaned into him and made small talk with the guys I had just met, trying my best to remember all their names.

----

We were all sitting outside on the beach. Shortly after I had met the All Time Low guys, I had also met the guys for Sleeping With Sirens. I already sort of knew them from occasional skyping I did with Vic a few years ago when they had a world tour together. PTV had also toured with All Time Low before, but I had never seen them.

I was happy to see that Vic had brought Danielle along. It meant I wasn’t surrounded by 13 guys all by myself. I had seen her one time after Vic had brought her over to introduce her to us, but we bonded pretty quickly. Sure, there were so many things we didn’t know about each other, but it was good being around a girl for once. For six years I had been stuck with the same 4 guys constantly, so it was nice to switch it up a bit.

I was now sitting on Tony’s lap and we were surrounded by everyone. We were all laughing about something Tony had said and his fingers intertwined with mine.

“Are you guys, like, a couple?” Alex blurted out.

“Umm,” Tony began.

I interrupted him, “Would this answer your question?”

I turned so I could reach Tony’s face with my hands and planted my lips on his. In no time he started kissing me back. He really was right, I was going to have to fix my lipstick quite a few times today. Tony’s arms were still tightly wrapped around my waist and my hands were guiding the kiss. We pulled apart and I turned to Alex.

He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, “Is that a yes or a no?”

Jaime sighed, “I’ll tell you the story,” He then turned to Tony and I and secretly motioned to his stomach, “But I’ll keep some specific parts out.”

I nodded and smiled at him. At least he was first asking if I didn’t want them to know about the miscarriage I had. And to be honest, I didn’t want to tell them. If they found out some way or another, I wouldn’t mind, though.

“So, these guys were going out behind our back,” Jaime gave us a disapproving look, “which is actually quite impressive because we were on tour at the time. You know how it is, you literally can’t hide anything from each other, yet these guys managed to do it. They broke up and got back together, or some bullshit. Then on the last day of tour we found out.”

“Really? That’s pretty impressive. How did you find out though?” Justin laughed.

“Umm…” Jaime looked over at me.

“Did you walk in on them having sex or something?” Jack B joked.

“Umm… no…”

“It’s a story for a different time,” Vic interrupted.

Everybody nodded, noticing the tension. I really didn’t mind telling my close friends and family about it, but did I really want people I barely knew know about it? They were Vic’s, Jaime’s, Tony’s, and Mike’s close friends, and I did like them so far. But not everyone needed to know about it. It was a private thing between me and Tony.

----

After being carried out into the ocean and then being dunked by Tony. Vic decided I should open the presents. I really didn’t get why he wanted me to open them in front of everybody so bad. I would have been just fine with opening them when everybody left.

“Vic, seriously, this makes me feel like a child… Only I never had birthday parties as a kid, or any birthday presents in general…” I trailed off.

“Exactly. You have to catch up while you still can,” Vic retorted.

“Wait, you never had birthday presents!” Gabe exclaimed.

I shrugged, “Nope. But my brother and best friend did once save up to get me a photo frame with a picture of us in it.”

“Oh, that’s nice of them. But now it’s time for you to open these amazing gifts we got you.”

“I have to get mine from upstairs,” Tony rushed and ran out of the room.

“Do you think he might propose?” Vic nudged.

“Vic. No,” I said sternly.

“I’m only joking,” Vic defended.

Tony came back downstairs with two rectangular boxes and sat down next to me with them. He grinned at me and I rolled my eyes back at him playfully.

Most of the gifts I had gotten were the basic gifts you would get a girl if you didn’t know what they wanted. But I didn’t blame anybody. These gifts were cool, and I really appreciated them, especially since I didn’t know these guys before. Vic and Mike had given me a simple charm bracelet. They had each also gotten me a charm to put on it, so I wouldn’t just have a bare bracelet. The only gifts I had left to open were Tony’s and Jaime’s.

Tony decided to go first and gave me the two boxes. I eyed him suspiciously and he urged me to open it. As the wrapping paper slowly came off I saw something I really wouldn’t have expected.

I looked up at him, “Fuck you Tony! You can get me something this expensive!”

Tony shrugged and I took out the box of colored pencils. They costed over $150 for just 24 pencils and he had gotten me a box with 132 different colored pencils. Sure, most of my colored pencils had ran out, but did he really have to buy me the most expensive thing he could find?

“I’m afraid of opening this one now,” I held the unopened gift.

“Just open it” Tony urged.

I slowly opened the present and saw another similar box, but with watercolor based pencils.

“I’m done,” I protested, “From now on I’m going to pay for everything we do.”

“I wish I had a girl who would do that,” Alex joked.

“Now it’s my turn!” Jaime exclaimed, “It’s something for both you and Tony, but more for you, because I would never give this to Tony alone. “

He handed me a large flat gift, that had a few things elevated further than other. I unwrapped it and grinned. It was a multiple photo frame for 28 photos. However, it wasn’t empty and blank. Jaime had put in a different photo in each frame of the first date Tony and I had. I had totally forgotten I had given Jaime the disposable camera when I was upset and bawling my eyes out.

“I forgot I had given you the camera!” I laughed.

“I figured. You never asked for it back, so I decided to give it in a different way,” Jaime explained.

“This is my favourite one,” Tony pointed to the one of us kissing at the river.

“It takes talent to be able to point a camera in a weird way and then taking the photo without it being blurry,” I praised myself

“Definitely.”

I looked at the other photos of that day. The photo of me in the bookstore and the one of me on Tony’s back were both included. This day was both the best and one of the worst days of my life. It was the first time we said ‘I love you’, but ironically also the day of our break up. But I guess we can forget about the negative part.

----

“So how about we play dirty never have I ever? I’m guessing none of us here are virgins,” Jack B suggested.

Everybody shrugged their shoulders and agreed to play it. Vic, Alex, and Jack F stood up to get the shot glasses and whiskey. They gave everybody six (I had no idea we had some many glasses, but then again Tony used to have quite a few parties because he was the only one with a cool house for a while) and filled them up with whiskey. I got off Tony’s lap and sat opposite him. When Alex came to me with the whiskey, Tony stopped him.

“She doesn’t drink,” He explained.

I thought for a bit, “It’s my 29th birthday, I can make an exception. But this will be the only thing I will drink. Obviously I’m a lightweight, so I’ll be drunk in no time.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded and motioned for Alex to pour shots for me as well.

When everybody had the right amount of shots, we made sure we sat in a circle and were able to see everyone. I was still opposite from Tony and had Danielle and Kellin next to me. Jack B begged to be the first one to go, and after some arguing we finally gave in.

He thought and smirked, “Never have I ever had sex on a plane.”

A few people around me took a shot. I thought about anything I had done, when something popped up in my head.

“Would fingering count?” I wondered.

Tony’s eyes went wide and he glared at me. He probably had forgotten about that, and he would never have thought I was this straightforward. A chorus of ‘I guess so’s erupted from everybody and Tony glared at me again. We both took a shot and everybody cheered.

“I think this is quite unsettling,” Vic shivered, “I sat next to you guys on the plane nearly every single time.”

I burst out laughing, “I would like to tell you you don’t have to worry, but I really can’t”

“Oh my god. No. C-can we just continue, please.”

“Ok, I’ll go next,” Gabe said, “Never have I ever had a sex with a person of the same sex.”

Surprisingly I was the only one having to take a shot. I looked around at everyone staring at me.

I sighed, “I was 18, it was a one time thing, don’t judge.”

“I actually knew about that one!” Vic exclaimed.

“Yes, but only because you were assuming things.”

We continued playing and I was the only one down to one shot. I never knew I was the most sexually experienced person in this group. Everybody kept arguing that I looked so innocent, but I guess looks really do deceive. Tony and Jack were down to 2 shots, and most still had 3. All I knew was that I already had had 5 shots, and was really starting to feel it.

I leaned over to Danielle and whispered, “Help me here. Do something you know I wouldn’t have done.”

She laughed and nodded before making up something, “Never have I ever had the girl be the dominant one. But not just dominant, but also tying up the guys hands or something.”

I groaned, “Why Danielle, Why!”

I took my last shot and fell back, “I’m the first one out!”

Tony took one of his shots and tried not to blush as everybody was hollering. I was seriously drunk, but still somehow sat back up to see who would be out next.

Vic spoke up, “Never have I ever had public sex or sex outside.”

About half of the group took a shot, including Tony.

“I actually didn’t do that,” I slurred.

Tony raised an eyebrow at me, “Well, we gotta change that.”

Before I knew it I was being picked up and Tony brought me behind a large rock. He placed me on the wet sand and I stumbled, falling into him. We both burst out laughing and I couldn’t stop. Tony shut me up by pushing my chin up with his hand and kissing me.

Let’s just say I needed to drink another shot after that.

Notes

Just a couple more chapters left!


- DSN